


Give Me Notoriety

by missanomalous



Series: So Save Me (I'm Waiting) [4]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-10
Updated: 2014-11-10
Packaged: 2018-02-24 20:29:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2595425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/missanomalous/pseuds/missanomalous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As with any being that depends on the moon for its powers, Effy's worst enemy turns out to be Daylight Saving Time.<br/><a href="http://royalarmyofoz.tumblr.com/post/101334139037/regina-and-ruby-with-their-daughter-effy-but"></a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Give Me Notoriety

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thegirl20](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirl20/gifts), [royalarmyofoz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalarmyofoz/gifts).



“I don’t feel any different. Aren’t we supposed to feel different?”

 

“Maybe we did it wrong.”

 

She smirks as she watches Adam roll his eyes and come to a vague stop to check for any cars at this early hour, her own vision settling to a half-lidded dreamy gaze. Not from her night of carnal discoveries, but because the damp morning air combined with the heat blasting out of the vents, as well as her few hours of sleep. This has all left Effy with the desire to climb back into the bed of the truck, to fall asleep once more in the pile of blankets and pillows he kept smuggled back there in a canvas bag. But Adam had insisted in trying to get her home before her parents were up, and the mayor’s daughter had little room or ability to debate when she could barely form sentences. She reaches up to play with the pendant around her neck when she spots the faded, tiny form of the full moon slinking off into the west as the sky bleeds pink and orange.

 

“Did you like it?” She rolls her head back over to look at her boyfriend, squinting at the hazy light that surrounded him, dropping her hand back to the seat.

 

“Yeah,” Effy responds after a moment, her eyes burning. “I mean, I’m sure it was sufficiently awkward for both of us, though significantly more painful for m–”

 

“I am _so_ –”

 

“If you apologize one more time, we’re never doing it again.” He seems to consider for a moment before closing his mouth, blue eyes darting around as they quietly drive through Storybrooke’s streets on their way from the overlook. Her clothes still have that wonderful bonfire scent and she hates that she has to wash them before her mom wakes up and smells it. Effy undoes her seatbelt and slides over the bench to Adam, startling him a little, but his arm, as it always does, wraps around her without a second thought. “Let’s try in an actual bed next time though.”

 

“Agreed.” He stops at the end of her block and puts his father’s old truck into park, stifling a yawn and turning to her. Adam opens his mouth again and Effy silences him, remembering her mother’s words about the Charmings’ and their terrible habit of talking far too much and disproving their name. And she would rather kiss than talk right now, curling around the older boy before reluctantly pulling away and bolting out into the cold morning before she loses her nerve and falls asleep in the cab. She breathes out a puff of air as she walks, watching it follow her and almost wishing she had changed last night while she had the opportunity. Not that she regrets going a different path with her plans.

 

Well, maybe a little. At least when she steps into the foyer and comes face-to-face with her mom, standing there taller than herself, her green eyes cold and critical. Effy stops midstep and looks around desperately for an explanation to the early wake up time, her eyes landing on the grandfather clock in the formal living room to find its hour hand a whole rotation higher than the clock in Adam’s truck had indicated. _Daylight saving time_ , she thinks dazedly as she tries to collect herself. _Why the fuck can’t we live in Arizona instead of the living nightmare that is Maine?_

 

“You were supposed to be spending the night at Sadie’s, weren’t you?” Effy has no defence, she’s never needed one with Ruby. Ruby was the one who encouraged her to rebel and took her to get her eyebrow pierced for her birthday, it was her mayoral mother who was prone to disapproving frowns. It feels like some form of betrayal on the waitress’ part and that leaves Effy squaring her shoulders and standing straight. “So why are you coming home smelling like bonfire, cheap beer, and Adam Nolan?”

 

Effy’s cheeks flare but her eyes narrow as she crosses her arms over her chest. “Will you please quit smelling me? It’s a violation of my–”

 

“You lied to us.”

 

“ _You_ said I could go out into the woods when there was a full moon. I can’t help it that I happened to run into–”

 

“Don’t give me that,” Ruby snaps, the effect somewhat lost as she stands in Regina’s pajama bottoms, which rode up far too high on her legs. “We’ve _explicitly_ said the time is not for you to run off to your boyfriend to do god knows what–”

 

“You can just say ‘have sex’, you know.” She definitely regrets _that_ immediately, but she isn't about to show it. Ruby’s face twists into an expression Effy doesn’t recognize but instantly hates but before her mom can reply, Philip walks out of the kitchen, looking tired but interested in the scene he encounters. A vague conversation about an early soccer game Pip has comes to mind and Effy really hates herself for being so incredibly bad at sneaking around when she was supposed to be as quick-witted and graceful as a wolf.

 

He opens his mouth to speak, but Ruby cuts him off by telling him to get upstairs and get dressed for his game and he obeys, but not without a smirk sent in Effy’s direction. An incredibly unfair move when she was probably the one he learned it from. He passes their mother on the stairs and singsongs, “Effy’s in trouble.”

 

Effy feels her stomach drop and her facade fall, and she looks pleadingly at her mom with the obvious intention of conveying her everlasting obedience if Ruby should promise to keep this to herself. Anything but tell Regina, because Effy can’t bear the thought of her other mother looking at her the way this one had, and her heart is already aching at the idea. But the look Ruby gives her is a clear indication that the battle is lost before it’s begun.

 

“She was out all night with Adam,” Ruby clarifies upon Regina’s raised eyebrow upon the scene. “They spent it in his truck as far as I can tell.” The mayor’s look indeed changes, but only to one of mild surprise, otherwise it seems purposefully devoid of any particular emotion. Regina continues to get ready, doing up the buttons on the cuffs of her sleeves and then reaching for her jacket. “Regina, don’t you have anything to say?”

 

“I’ll agree with whatever your mom sees fit as punishment, but I have to go into Boston this morning and can’t debate the merits of her decision.” Regina looks over and makes eye contact with her daughter briefly but fully. “I’m really disappointed that you lied to us, Effy,” she replies simply as she tugs her coat into place and wraps a scarf around her neck before opening the door to the March day.

 

* * *

 

She feels somewhat guilty for not cheering her son on more when his team is winning, but no matter what her friends say around her, Ruby refuses to be comforted.

 

“It’s different when you have a girl,” she stresses to Mary Margaret as she watches her ten year-old grandson run around the field with her best friend’s boy. Emma sits on her other side, huddled in a jacket, but seems as disinterested in her son’s game as Ruby is when there is pressing news to be discussed.

 

“Sexist,” Mary Margaret accuses in return before jumping to her feet to clap with a few other parents. “Way to go, Jamie! Emma, cheer for your son, he’ll think you don’t love him.”

 

Her daughter rolls her eyes and returns her attention to the waitress. “Ruby, she’s seventeen. And in all those years, I don’t think she’s gone more than, like, what? A week without seeing him? And, also, she’s seventeen. And you’re… _you_.”

 

“Why do you make it sound like I was working a corner before the curse broke?”

 

“Because you dressed for it?”

 

Ruby scoffs and looks back out at the field to watch her son stand in the center of the field, his hands on his thighs as he bends over and catches his breath, cheeks flush and dark hair sticking to his damp forehead. With his similar features, the boy should be the spitting image of Adam at this age, but Phil couldn’t have been more different with his sharp angles and Granny’s cool blue eyes. She tries to think of how these looks will translate when he’s twice his age, but she comes to a blank. Probably handsome and every bit as troublesome as his sister.

 

“It really doesn’t bother you? About Adam?”

 

“Of course not, Ruby, he adores Effy and he’s, you know, legally an adult, so I’m kind of surprised it took him this long. Have you seen your kid?”

 

“So you’re just gonna let them fuck in the living room as long as Charlie doesn’t walk in?”

 

“Of course not. If they’re gonna do it, they’re gonna have to sneak around and work for it. But I’m not going to punish him for having sex, Ruby, you can’t demonize kids for going through puberty. Obviously he’s gonna get his ass handed to him for lying last night, and I’ll dole out whatever you’re dishing to Effy to make sure we provide some united front, but are you really mad at your daughter for sleeping with her boyfriend of… seventeen years?”

 

Ruby sighs in begrudging defeat as halftime is called on the field, watching her son gravitate towards Emma’s as they gather around their coach and reach for orange slices she had to wake up early to hastily cut up. Only to realize that her alarm had shifted its clock overnight to accommodate the time change and set her whole schedule off. Effy probably could have made it in without notice if she had been smart enough to ditch her clothes somewhere until she could wash them.

 

“It’s… weird. And she was such a little brat about it.”

 

“Well, yeah, she’s your daughter,” Emma half-heartedly consoles, arms crossed and cheeks pink from the weather. Ruby has to talk to David about the schedules for league sports in town, March is far too cold for soccer, and his own daughter is clearly unimpressed with it. Apparently Jefferson couldn’t bear the thought of watching kids fumble around a ball all day and had managed to opt out of sporting events altogether unless it was an important game. Smart man. “But she’s a human, Ruby. And she’s definitely the child of Regina Mills and Ruby Lucas, so you probably should have been prepared for this teenaged outcome.”

 

She really should have been.

 

* * *

 

Effy sighs as she stretches out on her bed, groggy from her nap but trying desperately to wake up when she hears the sound of the door opening. Pip and Ruby come in, but as soon as she hears her mother walk straight to her room, she knows that the woman is going off for a run, leaving her to relax against her bed. _Good,_ she thinks as she wipes her eyes. _I haven’t thought of my defence._ Her mother leaves as predicted and Effy takes the break to sneak into the shower, washing her hair quickly and jumping out before she gets stuck under the spray for the better part of an hour, as she is wont to do.

 

When she returns to her room she lets out a sigh to see Pip laying across her desk chair, stretched out in a position that should look uncomfortable, but gives him the impression of a cat bathing in the sun. He looks up at her as she enters, watches as she tugs on the hoodie she had worn the previous night, considering the remaining bonfire scent to be a silver lining to being caught.

 

“I get it,” Philip comments when he looks at her sweater. It’s a thin black hoodie with “SHEEP” embroidered across the chest in bold, white letters. Adam had given it to her the previous week and it had instantly become her favourite piece of clothing, especially when she tugged her necklace out to let the crescent-shaped pearl hover above the word.

 

“Congratulations, Pip,” she replies as she sits on the end of her bed with a defeated sigh and continues to run a towel through her hair. Effy had hoped that when she woke from her nap that she would be better equipped to decipher her mother’s reaction this morning. Whether or not she preferred it, at least Ruby had made her feelings known to her daughter, but the mayor barely blinked in return.

 

“Why are you in trouble?”

 

“Wasn’t where I was supposed to be last night.”

 

“Hm.” She glances at her brother and reminds herself that he is indeed nine and that she should probably stop mistaking him for much older. Everyone always comments on how he seems to be wise beyond his years, but that isn’t what always catches Effy off guard. It’s how little he needs to say when the majority of the population never knew when to shut up. “So you can’t go out?”

 

“Not for the foreseeable future,” Effy says as she tosses the towel into her hamper and stretches her arms above her head.

 

His blue eyes drop from hers for a moment as his foot twists back and forth to rotate his seat, and for whatever reason, Effy finds herself desperate to know what he’s thinking and resenting her brother for being one of the few people she can’t easily read.

 

“Do you wanna play Mario?”

 

At least he was reliable. “Set it up.”

 

* * *

 

A Saturday without her phone seems to stretch on forever, even when she can check on all of her friend’s activity online. They’re all out enjoying the unseasonably warm weather, even if the winter chill was still settled in the air. And Effy can’t blame them, knows that most of them are probably planning on repeating last night’s events out in the woods, surrounded by a fire. Even her brother had ended up ditching her as the day wore on, to head over to Emma and Jefferson’s to have a sleepover with Jamie. Usually the girl was better about being able to entertain herself, but the events of the last twenty four hours make her feel like she’s about to burst from her skin.

 

Eventually hunger forces her out of the sanctuary of her room and makes her brave walking back down the stairs, wary of the quiet when she knows she heard someone walking around downstairs. Effy steels herself for another run in with her statuesque mother, but when she makes it to the foyer, it’s Regina she spots in the dining room rather than Ruby. She’s sitting at the table, papers and binders spread out before her, only glancing up when she’s finished writing her sentence.

 

“Are you hungry?”

 

“I can make something.”

 

Regina shakes her head and stands from her spot. “I wasn’t sure if you had eaten already, but I haven’t.” Effy follows her into the kitchen, standing at the island as Regina pulls out two plates and a tray of lasagna, throwing one serving into the microwave before turning to lean back against the counter. “So what did your mom give you?”

 

“She took my phone and grounded me until a date to be decided.” Regina considers it for a moment before moving to put what was left of the lasagna back in the refrigerator. “Is she at work?”

 

“She is.”

 

Effy looks down at her hands, twisting her fingers together. “Are you mad at me?”

 

“No.”

 

She sends her mother a guarded look at the plain response. “But you’re disappointed?”

 

“I have no negative feelings in regards to your sexual activity, Effy. Especially given the circumstances. You’re a smart girl and Adam’s a good kid – I trust you won’t make terrible decisions that could drastically affect your choices in life.” She meets her daughter’s look as openly as she can to convey her sincerity while her right hand comes up to play with the wedding band on her left, spinning it around her ring finger. “Your mom will get over it once she calms down.”

 

“Can I ask you…” Effy trails off as she reconsiders her words, watching her mother’s movements with pointed interest, the question having weighed on her for so long that she’s never worked up the courage to ask it. The dark haired girl clears her throat and tries again. “Can I ask you about your first marriage?”

 

The visible reaction Regina gives is unlike one her daughter has ever seen before, a shudder that seems to run violently through her spine, her fingers dropping from the ring she was toying with as if the white gold is burning her. It makes Effy wince as she recalls her talks with Henry about their mother’s past, the details they didn’t cover in school when they learned about the other world.

 

“If you think I’m too you–”

 

“You’re not,” Regina interrupts, her expression somewhat lost as she stares down at the marble countertop covering the island, hands smoothing over the white surface. “You’re not too young, I just... “ She looks up, her eyes incredulous and voice small. “I was only a little older than you are when it happened. And sometimes I forget that I didn’t grow up in the same world as you did.”

 

Effy’s stomach drops at the confession, having only ever heard her mother described as 'young' when she’s brought it up in the past. “How old?”

 

“Maybe a year and a half older than you are now. Closer to two. It was lifetimes ago.”

 

“Just one.”

 

Regina smiles, a grin that is sad and beautiful and not filled with joy in the least. She turns as the microwave goes off and pulls the plate out to set across the island in front of Effy, putting her own plate in before moving to grab some utensils. “What did you want to ask?”

 

She doesn’t know, really. The questions she had planned out all seem vulgar upon seeing her mother’s face. Effy picks at her lasagna for a moment, waiting for the steam to die down before she bites in. “How could you stay with him for so long?”

 

Regina gives a humourless laugh and looks down at the floor. “I don’t know. It became apparent as the years went on that I was… I was stuck until something happened to him. But… I guess I had to wait until I could hate his daughter enough to do that to her.”

 

“Even though Snow was the reason you had to marry him?”

 

“I think even then that I knew she was just a child. And, loathe as I was to admit it, I didn’t exactly have a lot of other company in the castle.” Regina looks at her daughter for a moment, squinting until she sees herself reflected back at her. Effy had changed so much during her teenage years, had softened her sharp angles and rounded her figure through a couple of well timed growth spurts. She wonders if puberty will do the same for Philip, turn him soft and round like her side rather than the lithe forms of his mom’s, though it seems he’s well on his way to that already. “I was so worried about marrying your mom. For the longest time, I put it off because I… I was so afraid that those bad memories would creep back in.”

 

“Do they?”

 

“Sometimes,” Regina replies honestly, doing her the daughter the courtesy of providing naked sincerity. The microwave beeps behind her, but she ignores it, reaching back up absentmindedly to toy with her wedding band once more. “There are some nights when… I’ll wake up from a bad dream and I’ll feel the ring on my finger, and for a few terrifying moments I feel like I’m that twenty year-old girl again. Living in a palace I hate and sharing a bed with a man who doesn’t love me.” It feels like a step too far to say so plainly in front of her daughter, but the girl doesn’t react at all. “And then I turn and I see your mom and everything’s fine again, but… it’s really awful, Effy. To relive that feeling once more, even for a minute.”

 

Effy looks down at her plate when her mother finishes, slicing it apart with the edge of her fork but still waiting for it to cool. She’s not feeling particularly hungry at the moment, and she has to keep her mind from wandering to Adam because she doesn’t want to start to associate this queasy feeling with him. “Was he awful to you?”

 

Regina is somewhat taken aback by the question, stalling for a moment by turning around to pull her plate out. “He was never… cruel to me. But he was never kind to me, either. I was just a prop he needed, a woman to raise his daughter. I think I would have preferred it if he were mean to me, actually. At least that would have meant he felt something in regards to the woman he married.” She stops when she notices her daughter’s ashen face, not necessarily regretting her words but wishing they weren’t still so effective after all these years. “But whatever happened then… I’m here now. And I never would have ended up with all of this if I hadn’t gone through that.”

 

“Does that really make it better?” Effy asks, a little too bombastically given their mood.

 

“Of course it does, Elizabeth,” her mother replies calmly, mirroring Effy’s position by leaning against the other side of the island with her plate in front of her. “I waited so long to be happy. It’s incredibly satisfying to know that every terrible moment was worth it when I got to end up with the life I have now.”

 

Effy drops her gaze to her plate again, daring to take a bite and regretting the decision immediately, though she was unwilling to show it. Regina knows better though, and turns to open the refrigerator again, pulling out the chocolate milk and then reaching for two glasses. For some reason, even if she’s always seen her in a maternal light, even Effy can appreciate the sight of her mother drinking chocolate milk in her tailored dress.

 

“Was your first time on your wedding night?”

 

“No,” Regina responds immediately. “Thank Christ.”

 

It makes Effy feel a little bit better at least, as she strains to think of the man’s name. “Daniel.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Did you love him?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“Did you enjoy it?”

 

“My first time? Enough to want to try a second. But it wasn’t quite as… romantic as the literature of the time made it out to be.” Regina takes a sip of her drink before daring a bite of her steaming pasta dish. “And yourself? Any reservations?”

 

“No, I don’t think so. Hurt like hell, but you always taught me to keep an open mind.”

 

“I think your mom is regretting that at the moment. But I’m sure she’ll be over it soon. You might want to rethink your tactics though, it took me a good couple of decades before I realized going on the offensive wasn’t the best starting stratagem.”

 

* * *

 

Effy feels marginally better about her own situation, but thinking of her mother’s past weighs on her more than she expected it to. She had heard the stories of Red killing her boyfriend and mother, of Regina’s cruelty when she had fallen to that dark period of her life. But to hear her mother talk about what led there was disorienting. Effy sits on her mattress, quiet as she hears her parents start to get ready for bed, still not having spoken to Ruby and still not wishing to for the time being.

 

She doesn’t mind so much except the moon is making her skin itch, and she doubts she’ll be given leniency to change for a good long while. The hours seem to drag on no matter how Effy tries to pass the time and despite her off schedule, she can’t force herself to fall asleep, so she gives in and puts her headphones in, zoning out on her bed, dressed in shorts and her hoodie, as she powers through her playlist. If it weren’t for her acute hearing, she probably wouldn’t have heard it at all, but the scraping against the window can be picked up over the smooth strumming of an acoustic guitar.

 

Effy can’t keep the smile off her face when she sees Adam in her window, balancing precariously on the branch of the old tree outside of her window, a stick in his hand that he had been using to tap against the glass. He grins in return when he finally manages to get her attention, inching forward a little more when she opens the barrier between them. “Well, hey there, Juliet.”

 

“Hey there, monkey man.” She leans against the window sill and eyes the distance to the ground. “You’re gonna have to jump. Think you can make it?”

 

“Well, if I don’t, make sure it’s known that I didn’t die a virgin.” She smirks and steps away to watch him spring into the opening, reaching under his shoulders to pull him up and into her room. He laughs as he feels himself being tugged into the room, his deep blue eyes bright when he stands upright. “Have I ever mentioned how hot I think it is that my girlfriend can bench press me?”

 

“Maybe we’ll finally get to put that ability to good use now,” she replies as she leans into him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down to her. She remembers the first time they kissed, something more than an experimental press of the lips, remembers the surprise of Adam being the one to instigate anything, let alone a makeout session that lasted well into an afternoon. The following day they had become an official item, though they had always been as such despite the lack of label early on. They had never not _been_ but it had been nice to finally acknowledge it by holding Adam’s hand in the hall between classes. "How'd they take it?"

 

"I think they kind of assumed we had already, but they feel the need to show they won't stand for my kind of insolence. I'm in the same boat you are, so for the love of god, be good."

 

"Says the boy who broke out of his room to break into mine." It's barely been more than half a day, but it seems like it had been an eternity since she had slipped out of his truck that morning. Effy's hands slide down to his neck as she kisses him once more, curving her fingers around his shoulders to pull him along as she walks back towards her bed, returning the grin he presses against her lips as she pulls the boy overtop of her. It made the unending hours this evening seem a little more bearable in hindsight, to know that she got to end up here with Adam’s weight comfortably settled over her again. Her legs lazily wrap around his hips as she pulls back, running her hands through his short black hair and trailing a palm down his stubble-lined cheek. “Do you ever ask your parents about how fucked up everything was in their world?”

 

He raises an eyebrow at the question, turning to lean on his hips, head propped up in his hand. “Kind of. From what it sounds like, my mom and dad made it out relatively unscathed. A few parents short, but what are you gonna do?”

 

“Don’t be such an ass, you spoilt brat.” Adam smirks as she pushes at his shoulder, grabbing her hand and bringing the back of it to his lips. “My mother… when she first got married, my mom was barely…”

 

“I know. I do – that she was barely older than me when she got forced into a marriage she didn’t agree to. My mom is surprisingly frank about the subject. I think she’s always worried people are going to forget why she never feels like she can hold it over Regina anymore.” He intertwines their fingers, dropping their joined hands to rest on Effy’s waist. “My dad was too, for half a minute. He got out though. I take it your mother doesn’t exactly go on about it?”

 

“Never. And I knew why, but I never… knew the extent of all of it.” Of course, now that she’s had a taste, Effy is desperate to know more of every dark detail that had been glossed over in general discussion. “It was so weird not being able to call you up tonight after she told me.”

 

“I know. I think we might be codependent.”

 

“We most definitely are.”

 

“Oh well.” She laughs a little and uses her grip on his hand to tug him back forward, pressing their lips together once more, reveling in the feeling of his warm hand sliding up her exposed thigh. Adam pulls back and squints at her, their noses brushing together as he carefully reaches for her necklace and tugs the long chain over her head, spinning the chain between his fingers. “I love when your eyes get all wolf-y.”

 

“Better watch out before I do,” she responds, but she loves the shiver of magic that runs through her when the pearl leaves her form. She has long since learned to control the wolf, but there’s always some hesitation being around Adam when she’s without her necklace. She’d rather not recreate that moment of her family’s history. “You should go before your parents get mad at you all on their own.”

 

They disengage and slowly make their way towards the window once more, stopping for one last kiss that Effy refuses to allow to end until her boyfriend plants both hands on her shoulders and pushes her back. He smiles once more before doing his jacket back up and slipping onto the window sill to launch himself at the tree branch he had climbed up. Adam makes, just barely, but is left precariously balancing on it with the held of the branch above. “It’s probably worse than it looks,” he cautions when he sees her face.

 

“Adam, you’re going to break your neck,” she hisses in return, biting her tongue and debating how quickly she could get downstairs. The shapeshifter is about to move when she hears a branch snap, her eyes jerking back towards Adam just in time to watch the branch above him break and the boy fall backwards. The scream gets caught in her throat, but after a moment she has to stop and blink to realize that time hasn’t actually frozen, her boyfriend has, hovering in midair. Effy whips her head around to see her mother approaching behind her, still clad in a tailored dress and looking only faintly amused as she leans over her daughter’s shoulders.

 

“Adam. Lovely to see you.”

 

“Not nearly as lovely as it is to see you, Madam Mayor.”

 

Effy rolls her eyes as her boyfriend is set down on the ground, but he just continues to grin cheekily up at them. “I believe you’re supposed to be grounded,” her mother calls down to the boy, and he responds by dropping his grin and looking around.

 

“Oh… is this – is this not my house? Well, that’s odd. I should probably get going then, this might take some time.”

 

“Goodnight, Mr. Nolan,” the woman says with a defeated sigh, thinking of all the ways her family was becoming tied to the Charmings.

 

“Goodnight, Regina.” His blue eyes shift to his girlfriend’s before he begins walking away. “Goodnight, Elizabeth.”

 

“Goodnight, Elizabeth,” Regina parrots, pressing her lips to the side of her daughter’s head before turning to walk back out of the room. “I would suggest, perhaps, you have your boyfriend invest in a helmet. Those Charmings are detrimental to their own health.” She leaves her daughter in her room and heads back down to her own, smiling as she enters upon the dour look Ruby sends her over her shoulder as she towels out her hair, dressed in a robe.

 

“She’s supposed to be grounded,” is her response at Regina’s grin. “ _They_ are supposed to be grounded.”

 

“It’s _romantic_ , you prude.” Ruby exhales irritably as she sits on the bed and Regina crosses the room to stand next to her, grabbing the towel to take over the job. “They haven’t exactly had a lot of chances to be star-crossed lovers, give them a mutual grounding and just pray it doesn’t end in six deaths.” She drops the now wet towel to the bed, her hands running around Ruby’s neck. “She’s a pretty young girl. It’d be a shame to keep her all hidden away. And she managed to get well into a D cup when both you and I are are clearly B’s, so we should be living vicariously through her.”

 

“I guess the true love potion is the reason she’s so well-endowed?”

 

“Philip’s in for a good life then.”

 

Ruby smiles but looks down at her lap, her throat tight and her tongue heavy. It’s been hard to articulate the point without saying it directly, but she seems to have no other words than the obvious. “But she’s my _baby_.”

 

Regina gives a sympathetic sigh before stepping forward to settle over Ruby’s lap, kissing her quickly before brushing wet strands of hair behind her ears. “I know. But you’re old now and you have to deal with it.” She lets out a breath and tries to push the mayor off her, but to no avail. “You should go out tomorrow night. I think you could both stand to blow off some steam.”

 

“That seems like an underhanded way of implying my hormones are getting the best of me.” Regina laughs and kisses her again, holding her jaw in one hand, pulling on her bottom lip. Her other hand is sliding along the lapels of Ruby’s bathrobe, tugging haphazardly on the belt holding it together. “Is our daughter’s sex life making you jealous or do you just feel bad for me?”

 

“I feel very happy to be married to you.”

 

“All of the sudden?”

 

The fingers wrapped around her jaw pull back so she can flick the younger woman’s cheek. “No. Just… especially tonight. Sometimes it’s nice to remember how terrible things were before I ended up with the Big Bad Wolf.” Ruby gives a laugh and slides her hands up to catch the zipper on her dress, dragging it down. "So much more fun than Little Red Riding Hood."

 

"That sounds like a challenge."

 

"If you wish to see it as such, I'm certainly not going to stop you, Mrs. Lucas-Mills."

 

* * *

 

Effy leans back against a tree and presses her palm to her chest as they change back, her necklace in her hand in the hopes that it will help calm her sooner. Ruby stands across from her, no worse for wear as she looks off into the valley below them, hands on her hips and face turned from Effy just enough that her daughter has to strain to catch her expression as she speaks.

 

“I’m not mad that you had sex.”

 

“Yes you are.”

 

“Well, I’m not _thrilled_ , but I’m not mad. I’m not… I never wanted children, Effy. Ten times as much as your mother didn’t want to have another wedding. I was always so worried about…”

 

“Me ending up like you at this age?”

 

“Yes.” She turns to Effy, running a hand through her long, chestnut hair before she looks up at the sky. “I was worried that you could hurt someone you love… that you’d end up as bored as I was here before the curse broke, that you’d be as lost as I was for years after it broke. I didn’t want kids at all. And then you came out of nowhere and all of a sudden I was so out of my comfort zone. And I still am.”

 

Effy looks down at the ground, begrudgingly trying to find some words to comfort the woman standing opposite her. “You’re a good mom.”

 

Ruby laughs and drops her hands. “I was so happy, though. When we had you. I’d never felt like I had a real family until the moment you came along. And… I’m so glad you have Adam, Effy. I’ve always loved him, I’m glad you do, I just… I hope you never feel like you have to be with him.”

 

The teenager bristles at the comment, kicking her toe into the dirt and meeting her mom’s gaze with all the impertinence she can muster. “So, you’d prefer it if I slept my way across the town’s eligible bachelors?”

 

“God, you’re such a brat.” Her mom’s words are contradictory at best when she reaches forward to pull her daughter close, refusing to speak until the girl relaxes in her arms and reluctantly returns the hug. “We are from a place that puts a lot of emphasis on romance, especially the long term. And it can be wonderful, it really can, but it can be suffocating too. I just… never want you to feel like you don’t have a choice in your life, Effy.”

 

Effy feels her stomach tighten at the words, thinking back to her conversation with Regina yesterday, her fingers curling around Ruby’s jacket as she presses her face to her mom’s shoulder. “I know, mama.”

 

Ruby tries to think back to the last time her daughter called her that, wonders if she should dare break the reprieve in Effy’s attitude to try for a joke, but instead she remains silent for awhile, holding her child close for as long as she’s allowed. When they do break apart, she runs a hand through her daughter’s hair, looking her over in the moonlight before giving her a smile. She proceeds to indeed ruin the moment, completely intentionally, as she reaches back to pull her daughter's hood over her head and push her back against the tree, proceeding to shift into her four-legged state to dart off into the forest as she hears the disgruntled sounds of another wolf tearing after her.


End file.
